Peter Fechter

Peter Fechter was born on Berlin in 1944, during the final years of World War II. After the conflict, he was living in the divided Berlin working as a bricklayer for most of his youth. But on August, 1961 with the Cold War tensions a wall was built leaving Peter and his family living on the East Germany - the Soviet side. He tried to work on the wall's construction which got expanded after many crosses between Easterns and Westerns. Though he was highly recommended as a good worker, he wasn't selected to cross the border to work on the other side of the wall. Along with a friend, Fechter tried to escape by crossing the wall to West Berlin on 17, August 1962 - a year and three days of the wall anniversary. After succeeding in hiding from the guards at several checkpoints, quite close to the border, it was time for both to climb the wall to the West side. While his friend managed to cross it, Peter was spot by the guards and shot him in the pelvis halfway during climbing. No officers or common people from either side came to his aid and the 18-year boy bled to his death for a whole hour and in front of several habitants. The news of his death was covered by many newspapers with photos of his body being carried by an East soldier, since he was one of the first victims who tried to cross the wall, later called "the Wall of Shame", by Time magazine and a place that would claim several other victims until its fall in 1989. In the following years, several memorials were created near the location of his death.